The summit of nonaligned countries held this month in Havana was an occasion for all sorts of things: speculating on Fidel Castro’s health, supporting all the “worthwhile” causes in the world, and predictably, bashing George W. Bush.

But the summit also provided a marvelous opportunity for one of the stars of the show — Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez — to lobby strong and hard for his cause of the day, getting his country elected as one of Latin America’s two nonpermanent members of the United Nations Security Council for the 2007-2008 term.

The Non-Aligned Movement has well over 100 members; all of them vote in the UN General Assembly, which, sometime next month, will elect Argentina’s replacement as one of Latin America’s two representatives on the Council. Chavez wants the seat badly. Next year there is another dramatic battle shaping up: Turkey, Iceland and Austria will compete for two of the three European slots. But the main event this year is the contest between Venezuela and Guatemala for the Latin American post.

This is, in fact, a proxy battle between Bush and Chavez. Washington has gone all-out to stop Chavez from winning; the Venezuelan has been personally campaigning for months all over the globe, doling out petrodollars, oil and gas projects, schools and hospitals as he jets from capital to capital in Africa, Asia and his home region.

A two-thirds majority is needed to win; that’s 128 votes to triumph, or 64 votes to defeat one’s rival. The voting goes on until a candidate reaches the magic number; there is an unwritten rule that after three rounds, previous commitments are withdrawn and everything goes. Actually, everything goes most of the time: promises are broken, votes are bought and betrayal is common. All of this occurs because the stakes are high, and higher in Latin America than at any time since 1979, when Fidel Castro attempted to win the seat, claiming that Cuba, being chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement, was entitled to membership. The US blocked Castro, using Colombia as a stalking horse, and Mexico was elected as a compromise candidate. This time, things might be more complicated.

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